Hello, I have a baby Guinea pig who I adopted 3 weeks ago at around 17 weeks of age. She was 327 grams which from the charts I was looking at seems to be underweight but her vet didn’t say anything about it. In the past 3 weeks she has gained a little bit over 100 grams and is now at 434 which is still underweight based on what I have read For a 20 week piggy. I want to know if any of you think this is an issue or if I should just keep monitoring it. Also, how much should she be gaining per day or per week? She is fed veggies every day and has unlimited access to hay and pellets right now although she isn’t a big fame off the oxbow pellets I switched am switching them too. If it helps she is a Sheba Miniyak.
Hi and welcome
Please take a deep breath and rip up those 'normal weight' charts. Don't trip yourself up and do more ultimately life-shortening harm to your youngster just because they are not falling into the half (and it is only half of all piggies) that are statistically considered 'normal' by arbitrary human measurements. The problem with those charts is that the other half of all piggies is not abnormal or unhealthy in any way; it is just that the normal variance is much wider and that is the humans who create a division where there is actually none.
Instead of overfeeding your piggy in an effort to push them into a category that doesn't exist in nature, please rather concentrate on feeding a long term balanced and healthy hay based diet with only a modicum of pellets (they are taking away from eating enough hay in the long term) and a balanced choice of preferably green veg (and not too many of those, either, because that is what can add another 1-2 years to your piggy's life.
Keep in mind that veg and pellets
together only replace the supplementary role of wild forage in a grass/hay based diet (about one quarter of what a piggy should eat in a day) and that their dental growth rate and digestive system has evolved against the very abrasive silica in the grass/hay fibre and on breaking down the tough but highly nutritious grass/hay fibre in two runs through the gut. Overfeeding on calorific pellets which have surprisingly little fibre but are full of empty fillers means that your piggy will eat less hay than they should in the longer term.
It's not about the size that matters but that they are healthy and happy in themselves.
There is nothing that says that your little girl can't realise her genetically determined optimum in good care and live a normal or even long and fulfilled life. It's not the quantity that matters but the quality, and getting the proportions right.
I have and have had piggies that fall at the lower end or even below what is considered an acceptable weight. It hasn't prevented them from having a good life with several living to the upper end or even a little beyond the average life span to up to 8 years - not all of course (but then that also oges for my 'normal' adoptees); but the majority of my 'dainties' have lived a perfectly normal life despite coming from sometimes truly horrendous backgrounds.
What you can't do anything about is any genes in play, especially in highly bred or inbred piggies; what you can do
everything about is that your little girl has as happy and healthy a life for as long as she lives.
Please take the time to read these very helpful guide links here below. Our weight guide also helps you to learn how you judge whether your piggies are a good weight/size ratio (i.e. they are in the perfect weight range) or whether they are over- or underweight.
Our method of feeling for the 'heft' around the ribcage works for any age and size without the need of creating an articifial category of 'normal'. It will help you to prevent your piggy from ending up overweight due to your current attempts at overfeeding and the long term health and life-shortening complications that can bring. There is point where the overabundance of calories will be converted into yellow fat once the initial fast growth phase is over.
Weight - Monitoring and Management
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Getting Started - Essential Information for New Owners
PS: Is your baby a single or do they have a companion?
